The University of Maine didn’t muster a win against 10th-ranked Minnesota Duluth over the weekend but fifth-year head coach Red Gendron saw some positives, especially between the pipes.
Junior Rob McGovern made 27 saves, including 10 Grade-A (high-percentage) stops, in Friday night’s 2-1 loss and freshman Jeremy Swayman made 35 stops, including 15 Grade-A’s, in Saturday’s 2-0 setback.
“Our goaltending was terrific both nights,” said Gendron.
“We wouldn’t have been close in those games if it wasn’t for them,” said junior defenseman and alternate captain Rob Michel.
Swayman lowered his goals-against average to 3.15 and raised his save percentage to .900 with his performance, while McGovern improved to 4.16 and .892, respectively.
Gendron said the team’s discipline was “very good both nights and the penalty-killing was good. We just didn’t finish off plays. We had plenty of good chances, we just didn’t finish. We need to be a little better, defensively, but we were much improved. We need to keep getting better in every way.”
Minnesota Duluth, NCAA runners-up a year ago, had averaged 3.5 goals through its first six games and UMaine also limited the nation’s 13th best power play to one goal in five attempts.
UMaine’s penalty-killing percentage was 47.4 percent prior to the series, the worst among the nation’s 60 Division I schools.
The Black Bears (2-4 overall, 1-1 Hockey East) play their first road series of the season Friday night and Saturday afternoon at UMass Lowell, which won the Hockey East tournament last season after sharing the regular-season title.
The River Hawks, who have earned five NCAA tournament berths the past six seasons, are off to a poor start with an 0-4 conference record and a 3-5 overall mark.
Two players looking to snap out of scoring slumps are senior left wing Nolan Vesey and sophomore center and captain Chase Pearson. They are the team’s top two returning scorers.
Vesey scored the overtime game-winner in the season-opening 4-3 victory over Connecticut but hasn’t registered a point while playing in four of the last five games.
Pearson posted two assists in the opener but has only one assist over the past five games.
Vesey had 13 goals and 10 assists in 36 games a year ago and Pearson had 14 & 8 in 36 games.
“Listen, they’re both very good players,” said Gendron. “They haven’t scored the way they can but they’re working on it. They nearly scored over the weekend. They just didn’t. We don’t have to rely on just them to score. We have other guys who create offense, too. It is what it is.
“We have weapons. We just have to stick to the process,” he added.
Freshman right wing Eduards Tralmaks was a bright spot over the weekend according to Gendron. He scored a goal in his third straight game on Friday. He has three goals and an assist in six games.
“He was pretty good,” said Gendron, who also felt freshman left wing Adrian Holesinsky from Slovakia played well in his college debut on Saturday.
“(Maine) played hard. We knew they were going to be a hard, heavy team,” said Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin. “After giving up a bunch of goals to Miami (10 in two games the previous weekend), we figured they were going to be a much better team, defensively. And I liked some of their skill up front.”
When asked if he thought his team would leave Orono with two wins after being limited two four goals in two games, Sandelin smiled and said “No.”
The Black Bears were without co-leading scorer Mitch Fossier (3 goals, 2 assists in 5 games) on Saturday night. As is his policy, Gendron doesn’t divulge the reason for a player’s absence from the lineup.
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